Shadow Wolf: The Iceberg
by Spotted.Newt
Summary: Four. The number of years since Hydra began a new project. Three. The number of years since a new criminal surfaced. Two. The number of years since SHIELD took notice. One. The number of missions it takes to turn the world upside down.
1. A Glimpse Before

Narrator: [the voice of a teen girl] _"People think they know me."_

[The scene begins as just a black screen. The cheerful tune of _Old MacDonald_ can be heard, babbled by a female child's voice. Blackness lightens to show a small, two-story white house, lights glowing in the windows, giving it a cozy atmosphere against the night. The camera zooms in on the first floor window to the right of the door. The scene cuts to a two-year old girl sitting on a white carpet, stuffed animals in her hands, which she makes dance to the song. ]

"Boh boh babo bah bah bah, beebo bahbo bah! Bah-"

A series of loud thuds are heard in the background, followed by a shout, and the child stops, turning her head towards the door. A woman's voice calls across the house.

"Sean? Sean, are you ok?"

The child pushes herself off the floor, dropping one stuffed animal as she toddles as quickly as she can across the playroom.

[As she peers out the door, the camera angle shifts so that the frame is filled with the scene in front of her.]

A man, her father, lies on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, face contorted in a grimace as he clutches his knee. A woman, the child's mother, kneels next to him.

"Sean, what happened?"

"Slipped on one of Skyler's toys. I think I twisted my knee again."

[The frame switches to the child's face, showing her wide brown eyes and slightly open mouth as she watches and tries to comprehend the scene before her.]

"Alright, I'm gonna take you to the ER. Let me call Mrs. Grayson and see if she can take Skyler for a few hours."

[The angle returns to the child's viewpoint.]

The woman stands and turns around. When she sees the child, she hesitates, before plastering a gentle smile on her face and approaching, bending to scoop up the child.

"Hey Sweetie. Daddy fell down the stairs, so I'm going to take him to the doctor."

"Booboo?"

"Yes honey, Daddy has a booboo. Mrs. Grayson is going to come play with you while we go see the doctor to fix the booboo, ok?"

The girl doesn't verbally respond, but she nods, snuggling closer to her mother.

[The scene fades out, then fades in to the child in the arms of an elderly woman, presumably Mrs. Grayson, who stands on the front step of the house as a car pulls out of the driveway. The camera zooms in on the pair.]

"Wave to Mommy and Daddy, Skyler."

The child obliges, lifting up one hand. The other is still clutching the stuffed toy, a wolf, and she has the ear in her mouth.

[Shift to the car.]

From the driver's seat, the mother waves back, and blows a kiss, before driving away, the sound of the engine lingering even after the car disappears from view.

[Fade to black, and silence.]

Narrator: _"But they don't."_

[The car sounds return after the narrator speaks. Then, the sound of squealing tires, a crash, and sirens. A flash scene briefly shows a mangled car, an eighteen wheeler, and lots of emergency vehicles with flashing lights. Another black screen…]

Narrator: _"They don't know my life."_

[...which fades back to the house, now in daylight. Several frames go by, each staying just long enough to give the audience a view of several empty rooms. No music plays.]

The playroom. The stairs. A bedroom. And finally, a "FOR SALE" sign in the front yard. In the driveway, a man who looks much like the father loads a cardboard box into the back of a minivan, before walking around to the driver side door and getting in.

[The camera view shifts to the back seat.]

The girl sits in her carseat, eyes rimmed in red, tears dripping from her chin and a bit of snot from her nose. She sniffles, the stuffed wolf hugged to her chest. A small hand appears, outstretched towards her. She looks down at it, then up to her left.

[The frame is filled with a six year-old boy in a carseat beside her, holding out his left hand.]

His eyes are sad too, but unlike the girl's, hold no tears. Perhaps he doesn't fully understand what is happening, only that the younger child is upset. The girl reaches out her hand and grabs his.

[The camera slowly zooms in on their clasped hands, lingering there before fading.]

[New scene. Cheerful music, and the sound of laughter.]

"Tag Ethan, you're it!"

The girl, now five, squeals as she taps the boy, now nine, and then dashes away. He shouts, and chases after her.

[The angle shifts to a large window, where couple stands, watching the kids, smiles on their faces. The man puts an arms around his wife's shoulders as they watch, and the camera switches back to the kids, zoomed out this time to reveal that they are playing in a yard.]

[Scene cuts to inside the house, sometime later that day.]

"Unco Dan! Unco Dan!"

The girl dashes around a corner, dressed in blue pajamas with little dogs on them. She holds a storybook in her hands.

"Unco Dan! Can we read this story tonight? Pweeeeeaaaase?"

The man, Uncle Dan, turns and scoops her up, causing her to squeal with delight, and plops her on a king-sized bed, where his wife is already sitting, a smile on her face. The girl snuggles up against the woman. The boy dashes into the room too, though he hops on the bed without waiting for invitation, and settles himself next to the girl. Finally, the man sits down on the bed, putting one arm around all three members of his family, and hold the book up in his other hand so everyone can see the pages.

"Once upon a time…"

[The scene fades into a different one, then blinks to another, and another. The images go by fairly quickly, depicting various moments of the girl's childhood, while the cheerful music continues. A birthday party. Playing at the park with the boy. Getting ice cream. Going to a water park. Building a snowman, and getting into a snowball fight. Singing at Sunday school. In each scene, the girl and boy are a little bit older, but clearly very close. Finally, the images fade to black, the music fading with it. The sound of hoofbeats replaces it, and then the family can be seen on horseback, riding through the desert. The camera zooms in on the girl and boy, now middle to high school aged, who ride a few strides behind the adults.]

"Hey Ethan, I bet you a gelato my horse is faster than yours."

"Deal."

The two spur their horses into motion, sand spraying behind them. They dash past the adults, whooping and cheering.

[Cut to black and brief silence.]

Narrator: _"They don't know what I've seen."_

[Cut back to the scene, where the thundering of hooves fills the speakers, and the camera angle shifts several times to give the audience various perspectives of the race. Sideways, head on, individual headshots.]

The two shout encouragement to their horses as they bend over the necks of the animals, determination gleaming in their eyes.

[A bird's eye view shows the boy taking the lead, before a sudden cut to black. A gunshot pierces the air, followed by explosions. The scene cuts in, showing plumes of sand erupting upwards as the explosions continue. The images and sounds are chaotic, cutting from the explosions to a screaming horse to the girl landing hard on the ground, before cutting to black again. The frame is then filled with the girl, the sounds now muffled and her movements in slow motion.]

The girl rolls onto her stomach, mouth agape in shock, eyes opening slowly as she lifts her head.

[The angle shifts to what she sees. The boy's face, eyes open and lifeless. The girl screams, but the audience doesn't hear the sound, only sees her face contort as her mouth forms his name.]

[Scene fades out slowly, then fades in again, showing a bird's eye view of the desert. The sand has settled, and the bodies of several people are visible. The frame zooms in on the girl's still form, and switches viewpoints so that it appears as though the camera is recording while resting on the ground near her.]

The girl's skin is tinted red from sunburn, and sand dusts her body as it is stirred in a slight breeze. Someone approaches; his black boots are visible as the person comes to a stop behind the girl. The person prods her with the butt of a gun, then crouches and feels for a pulse. His head is outside the frame, so the audience doesn't see his face, but hears his voice as his hand moves to an earpiece.

"This one's alive. Should I bring her in?'

A pause, in which he listens to a reply unheard by the audience.

"Roger that."

Tucking his arms beneath the girl, he lifts her up, carrying her bridal style.

[As the camera zooms in on her form lying limp in his arms, the audience also gets a clear view of the red logo on the man's uniform, before the scene cuts to black.]

Narrator: _"They don't know what I've been through."_

[Several scenes are shown in quick succession]

Men in white coats huddle around something. Various medical instruments rest on tables nearby, or in the unseen hands of the men. The girl's scream is heard.

[Scene.]

The girl throws herself against some kind of door, yelling and beating at it. The red still tints her skin, indicating she has been here for just a day or two. "Let me go!"

[Scene.]

The girl stands in a room, trying to block punches thrown at her by a man in a black uniform but failing miserably as the punches hit their marks. She ends up lying on the ground, bruised and bleeding, and she squeezes her eyes shut. That doesn't stop tears from leaking past her eyelids.

[Scene.]

She's fighting another agent. She loses again, in a similar fashion to the first time.

[Scene.]

And again.

[Scene.]

And again.

[Scene.]

The agent throws a punch. It's blocked, and he gets an uppercut to the jaw that sends him stumbling backwards. The girl's face is shown. There are no tears in her eyes now- only steel, magnified by the fact that her left eye is now a bright gold instead of brown.

[Cut to black.]

Narrator: _"All they know is what they see."_

[Cut to a series of news reports, brief flashes of reporters in front of various locations.]

"A jewelry store was robbed last night-"

"Police are investigated the robbery of a toy store on-'

"Eye witnesses report a wolf leaving the scene-"

"The mysterious criminal media has named 'Shadow Wolf' has struck again, this time robbing a bank-'

"The Shadow Wolf is the main suspect of a recent robbery that left seven injured-'

[The camera zooms out, showing dozens of these frames playing at once, news reports and clips from security footage, the voices all mixing together into incomprehensible babble before the screen cuts to black.]

Narrator: _"And that is only the tip of the iceberg."_

[Bold silver-grey block letters suddenly fill the center of the black screen, accompanied by ominous music.]

 **THE ICEBERG**

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey everyone! Welcome back to _The Iceberg,_ and thank you for your patience. This is a bit of a prologue, or teaser trailer if you will.

This is a re-write of my other story by the same name, and may contain scenes from that story. However, most of the content will be fresh, to reflect both my current skill level as a writer and the changes I am making to the development of my character Skyler. In this version of the story, I plan to address some of the questions about her history and experiences from the start, so you'll get a bigger picture sooner. I will also be trying some new styles of story-telling, so let me know what you love and what you love less. That goes for anything- I love hearing feedback from my audience, and your suggestions help shape the story.

That's all for now folks. Thanks for reading, I'll see you soon.


	2. On a Mission

Clint Barton firmly believed that the universe was out to get him. Either that, or it had a messed up sense of humor, because no one should have to deal with mutant bears on a Monday morning. No one. Especially not him.

" _Hawkeye, you've got another one heading your way."_

The archer swiveled on the balls of his feet, scanning the ground below for the creature. The warning was unnecessary; a large, slobbering mammal with neon yellow fur and ram's horns is kinda hard to miss, particularly when it's bellowing like a fog horn. Clint aimed his already notched arrow, drew back the bowstring, and fired. The beast collapsed, twitched a few times, and stilled with the fletchings protruding between its eyes.

"Just another day in the office."

Clint scanned the area for any other creatures, then dropped from the tree to retrieve his arrow. That made… What, seven mutant bears? Yeah, definitely seven. From the roar echoing over his comm, he figured the others were having a grand old time fighting mutants of their own.

" _Is that a lion?"_

 _"_ _Hey, all we need is a tiger and we'll have the whole set. Oh look, here's a tiger."_

 _"_ _Tony…"_

 _"_ _Ok, everyone say it with me: oh my!"_

 _"_ _Not the time, Stark."_

Clint smirked. "Oh my!"

Hey, if the universe was out to get him, he might as well have some fun with it. But, all joking aside, the team did have a job to do, and these creatures only served to distract from that job.

"Does anyone have eyes on the target yet?"

A chorus of "negative" sounded through the comm, responses Clint expected but didn't like.

 _"_ _This doesn't add up,"_ Steve's voice drifted through the earpiece, _"few agents, mutant animals, a building that's not even close to being well-camouflaged… It's just not Hydra's style."_

Barton had to agree with that one. The complex seemed abandoned, save for the creatures running all over the place. Aged paint had long flaked from the outside, and the doors were rusted. No signs of human life inside or out, besides the handful of agents the team had encountered when they first showed up. If the target was here, wouldn't Hydra be guarding the facility a bit more closely?

 _"_ _Is a secret door Hydra's style?"_

 _"_ _..yes."_

 _"_ _Great, cuz I just found one."_

Of course Tony would be the one to find a secret door. That man practically lived for secret doors.

 _"_ _Ok, wait there, I'll be over in a sec-"_

 _WOOOAAAAOOOOWWWWOOOOOAAAAAAAOOOOO_

 _"…_ _oops."_

For once, Clint was glad he was mostly deaf; that siren loud enough even he wanted to cover his ears. Instead, he just turned his hearing aids down a few notches.

And, like kids to a dinner bell, Hydra agents came swarming towards the base.

"Guys, you've got company!"

The Hawk spun on his toes, aiming, firing, aiming, firing. Down went a few agents, and when an arrow exploded, down went several more. Clint leapt from one branch to another, moving through the trees to make himself harder to hit, taking down agents as he went.

 _Fwap. Fwap fwap BOOM._

But even the great Hawkeye has his limits.

"I could use some backup out here."

" _We could use some in here too."_

 _"_ _Great, they're coming from inside and out."_

 _"_ _Uh, is this a Code Green?"_

 _"_ Yeah, a Code Green might be kinda helpful right about now."

Clint ducked as a bullet whizzed over his head, embedding itself in the tree trunk behind him. He rewarded the idiot who shot at him with an arrow to the throat.

"I think I'd rather have the mutant bears."

 _ROOOOAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHGGG_

"Or a Hulk. A Hulk works."

A mass of green stomped past Clint, swinging its giant fists at the cluster of agents, sending their comparatively puny bodies flying across the forest.

The Hawk smirked, notching another arrow. "Yeah, we've got this."

* * *

"We do not got this."

As soon as Tony opened the secret door, at least a hundred Hydra personnel started shooting at him. His suit was pretty bullet-proof, but he'd rather not stick around to find out exactly _how_ bullet-proof. Even if the suit withstood the barrage, this number of agents in a small space could easily swamp and overpower a single man, super-strong suit or no.

 _"_ _Sir, my calculations predict an eighty-nine percent chance of failure."_

"Thank you, JARVIS, for that helpful bit of info."

" _You're quite welcome, Sir."_

"Sarcasm, Jay, sarcasm!"

Tony fired his repulsers at the nearest agents, but in such a small hallway, the chances of causing structural damage and bringing down the ceiling were pretty high. He had a better chance of burying himself than he did taking out all the agents. He needed to get to a wider space, where he could really fight, where-

Oh yay, a grenade.

The explosive sent him flying backwards. He landed hard, grunted, pushed himself up, and blasted through the wall to his right just before the hall he had been lying in collapsed.

Ok, that actually worked in his favor. Bought him maybe thirty seconds, a minute tops.

" _Tony, what was that?"_

"Oh, nothing, just a little remodeling. I didn't like that ceiling anyway."

" _Did you get through?"_

"Nah, figured I'd take the scenic route. The one without people shooting at me."

Tony set his boot jets to low, flying down the new hallway towards the center of the complex. There had to be another door somewhere; Hydra wasn't stupid enough to barricade the only escape route.

"JARVIS, scan the walls for any weak spots, hidden doors, anything. See if we can punch a hole into their secret hallway."

 _"_ _The walls surrounding the hallway are highly reinforced. My scans show that the composition is thirty percent…"_

As the AI continued to describe whatever ridiculously strong materials made up the walls, Tony scanned them himself, locking onto the metal's signature and letting his software create a map of the space surrounded by reinforcements. As far as he could tell, most of said space was further down- a hidden level.

"A secret base within a secret base," he muttered, "Clever."

 _"Sir, there appears to be an elevator leading to the lower levels."_

"Great. Thanks Jay."

Tony banked left, flew down a side hall, turned right, and finally slowed to a hover before a set of heavy metal doors. He scanned the keypad, a simple number-coded system.

"Seems awfully low-tech for a Hydra hideout..."

The billionaire pressed a series of buttons, following the sequence JARVIS had picked up and displayed for Tony to see. The doors parted, revealing an empty metal interior, and slid shut behind the man once he stepped inside. Frankly, the lift looked as old as the rest of the place.

"Does this thing even have any security systems?"

As if in response to his question, a small blue screen materialized in the otherwise plain wall.

 _"Identification please."_

"JARVIS, run the override hacking program."

 _"On it, Sir."_

 _"Identification please."_

"Yeah yeah, give me a sec."

A little status bar popped up on his helmet display as JARVIS attempted to break through.

 _"Identification please."_

"Almost there..."

 _"Program failed, Sir."_

 _"Access denied; intruder alert."_

"Well that's not good."

Several wall panels slid to the side, revealing way too many guns aimed at the billionaire's head.

"Ok, time to exit the ride."

With the wonders of his suit's technology, Tony carved a circle out of the floor, blasted it, and dove out the bottom of the elevator while a spray of bullets ricocheted behind him. He scanned the walls of the elevator shaft for a door as he flew down.

And down.

And down.

"How deep can this thing possibly be?"

In his growing impatience, Tony almost missed the one thing he was looking for. Key word being 'almost.' The man didn't bother trying any fancy tech tricks this time, just blasted the door apart and ducked through right as the elevator came crashing down behind him.

"Well, that was fun. Anyone wanna go again?"

The creaking of a door answered him. Tony whirled towards the noise, thrusting one hand forward in preparation to blast into oblivion whichever little stinker came through that door.

Instead, he found himself facing a very familiar (and slightly winded) star-spangled Captain.

"Steve? How'd you get down here?"

The man seemed just as surprised to see Tony as Tony was to see him.

"I, uh-" he gestured to the door he'd just come through "-took the stairs."

Tony lowered his arm, extinguishing the charge. "…oh."

"So," Steve said, turning to face the expansive room in front of them, "what are we looking at?"

Tony turned, only now really looking at his surroundings. The space before them was as long as the Coliseum's arena, and similarly shaped. Three cylindrical enclosures made of a glass-like material stood in a row down the center, reminding Tony of the one SHIELD built to contain the Hulk. Around them lay rows of workstations, covered with a myriad of computers and other advanced pieces of technology. Tony's hands itched just looking at them.

"Some kind of research facility," the billionaire commented, moving towards the tech.

"Think our mutant bears came out of those test tubes?"

"Makes sense."

Steve walked to the side of the room. At first glance, the walls seemed to be painted black, but upon closer inspection he realized they were actually made of the same material as the cylinders. Out of curiosity, he reached up and tapped on the glass.

...And found himself face to face with an elephant.

"What in the world?" Steve stared up at the beast for a moment, then walked a few paces to the right and tapped on the glass again. Sure enough, the black tint lightened to reveal a cramped cell holding another animal.

"Cross-species genetics! _Duh!_ "

Steve half-turned towards Tony, who was furiously typing away, pulling up diagrams and 3-D models and other stuff Steve couldn't even begin to comprehend.

"Cross what?"

"Cross-species genetics," Tony repeated, jabbing a thumb drive into the machine, "Hydra's trying to create animals with the traits of other animals. Basically, weaponized critters. A tiger with an impenetrable armor, an elephant with a thirst for blood, you get the idea. This room is for the 'parent' animals, the ones Hydra gets the DNA samples from. Below us are five more levels of the same thing. The next room holds the experiments. Or at least, the first set of them. Then there are some labs and stuff."

"And the things we ran into upstairs?"

"The rejects. Mess ups. The monsters that didn't turn out the way Hydra wanted, so they stuck them up there as a disposable defense system."

Steve fell silent for a moment, a frown forming on his lips as he processed the information.

"Tony," he said, words slow as the pieces fell into place in his mind, "can't the target turn into a wolf?"

The billionaire's fingers paused mid-stroke.

"Human experimentation," he muttered.

A dark look passed over Steve's features as the term was vocalized. He wasn't surprised- Hydra was founded by the Red Skull, after all, and that man had experimented on him _self,_ so experimenting on other people wasn't too far a leap. Steve clearly remembered that the Skull had experimented on POWs back during the war, one of them being Bucky.

The memory made his hand curl into a fist. Of course Hydra would continue in its twisted ways, all in the name of power.

"Is there anything in there about the target?" Steve asked, forcing a calm tone. Getting worked up wasn't going to help anything.

Tony made a disappointed noise. "No. At least, not on this machine. I can try to hack into their mainframe and get at the more secure files, but that would take a bit of time."

"How much time?"

"About…" Tony hit a few keys, then punched the 'enter' button with more force than strictly necessary. A status bar popped up on the screen. "One and a half minutes. I just started my automated hacking program for heavy-duty coding. It'll work, but it's slow. As long as we don't get ambushed within the next ninety seconds-"

 _BOOM._

A side door neither Avenger had noticed soared across the room and hailed the arrival of another wave of agents.

"Really?" The genius shot a glare towards the approaching assailants, but his pouting was cut short as a bullet almost hit him in the face.

Steve thrust his shield up to cover them. "We're out of time. We'll have to find the target the old-fashioned way."

"Fine."

Tony dragged one last file onto the drive and yanked it free of the port. At least he could look at this stuff later.

If he didn't first get blasted into a million pieces by Hydra.

"Ok, here's the plan," Steve shouted over the gunfire, throwing his shield at a few agents, "we get to the end of the room, get through the door-"

"-and sweep this level for the target, yup, got it."

Steve rolled his eyes, but since Tony was actually _agreeing_ with his plan for once, he chose not to comment on the interruption. As one, the men blocked and returned fire, working their way to the end of the long room and, more importantly, the door. Once there, Tony tore into the electric security pad, re-wired it, busted open the door, and shut it again behind them.

The pair found themselves standing in a hallway. A hall that ran parallel to the door they'd just come through, giving them two options: go left, or go right.

"Ok, let's split up and cover more ground. You go left, I'll go right."

"Technically this hall makes a loop, so we'll just meet again on the other side."

"Good, you won't get lost."

"Hey! I have JARVIS, I can't get lost."

"Sure," Steve smirked, then turned to the right and started at a brisk pace down the hall. The hum of Tony's boot-jets rapidly faded, indicating the other man had flown down the hall in the opposite direction, and for twenty-three peaceful seconds the world was still and quiet.

Besides, you know, the siren still blaring.

And the lights still flashing.

But comparatively speaking, the hall was pretty calm.

Steve jogged along, trying doors, peaking into rooms that were mostly filled with lab equipment. A few appeared to be offices, and several side halls held cells with animals like in the first room, but nothing seemed particularly useful in Steve's quest to find the target. Everything was just still and empty.

But really, twenty-three seconds is about the longest peace can be expected to last when Hydra is involved.

"You know, I'm getting pretty tired of you guys," Steve said, ducking behind his shield as someone jumped out of a side room and started shooting at him. A few well-aimed punches knocked the guy out, but then a lot more guys appeared, and honestly Steve didn't feel like fighting his way through that crowd with his fists. It would be too time-consuming, too inefficient, waste too much energy. Instead, he tugged the loop off a grenade and tossed it at the cluster, then dove through a side door and slammed it shut behind him. There, he counted the milliseconds until the grenade would go off.

As he moved to exit the room, the Captain hesitated. Maybe it was his instinct to check his surroundings. Maybe it was a subconscious pull. Maybe it was pure coincidence. Whatever the reason, Steve glanced over his shoulder as he began to open the door.

And he froze.

There, in the center of the room, unconscious and strapped to a metal table surrounded by lab equipment, was a woman. A girl, really, she couldn't have been older than nineteen. Metal cuffs held her wrists and ankles in place, accompanied by wide straps over her torso and legs. All sorts of little patches covered just about every area of exposed skin (which was quite a lot since the girl wore only a white tank top and gym shorts), sending signals to the surrounding monitors, and even though there was no one else in the room the monitors were still on, reporting on her pulse and her blood pressure and her body temperature and her breathing patterns and her brain activity and anything else that can possibly be monitored by a little patch and a wireless signal.

Standing there, taking it all in, Steve was once again reminded of Bucky. Of dashing into a lab, turning, and seeing his best friend lying on a cold table.

He shook the memory away.

"Guys," Steve said, "I found the target."

* * *

 **A/N** : Hey hey, here we have the official first chapter of the New and Improved SWTI. :)

Special thanks to sweet sunset rain and amie94 for being the first two people to review this story. You guys are the encouragement an author needs to keep writing.


	3. The Wolf Awakes

Wrong.

The sense coursed through her, dancing on her nerve endings and alerting her mind.

Something was Wrong.

Her whole self knew it. Felt it. Though her conscious thought was asleep, trapped in the realm of the unconscious, her subconscious was very, very aware. It heard everything, smelled everything, felt everything, cataloguing that information and examining it, assessing it, determining whether or not there was an immediate threat. It watched while she could not watch. And now, in this moment where something - no, everything - was Wrong, it desperately pulled at the conscious, tugging, yanking, shoving her mind, screaming at her to wake up.

Outwardly, nothing changed. But inside, her mind awoke, drowning in the sense of Wrong. The subconscious was incapable of being specific, only able to chant that one word over and over, wrong wrong wrong wrong. It was up to the conscious to determine _what_ was wrong, _why_ it was wrong, and what to do about it.

She pushed the subconscious away, into the background, so that it was only a tingling murmur. Then, able to breath once more, she launched the Protocol.

First, brief stock of her body. No immediate threat. Good. Next, environment. Listen. She could hear three distinct voices, speaking in low tones. Adult males, quietly discussing trivial matters.

Red flag number one- she should have woken alone, with only the faint hum of security cameras as company.

Said hum was present, but it was slightly higher pitched than it should have been. A different kind of camera. Plus another hum, that of a medical monitor, filled her ears.

Next, scent. Slowly, inaudibly, she inhaled through her nose. The sharp tang of a sterile room filled her nostrils.

Conclusion number one: she was in some kind of medical room.

Red flag number two- it was not the same room she fell unconscious in.

Beneath the overwhelming scent of Too Clean lay the smell of Coffee Breath. Strong coffee. Even fainter, but no less noteworthy, she detected the metallic smell of Guns and Bullets. Small guns, several of them. Also, three distinct Person-scents. These were automatically run through her mental database, and when they didn't match any known Person-scent, they were filed away.

A wolf never forgets a scent.

Environment check step three: feel. The air was cool, but not uncomfortable. She lay on a smooth surface, somewhat soft. Bed. Correction, medical bed.

Red flag number three- she should have woken on a stiff cot.

Slight pressure around her wrists caught her attention; they were handcuffed, presumably to the bed.

Now for the final step of observation: look around. This was the step with the greatest risk (as once the eyes were open an onlooker could easily notice that she was awake) and therefore required speed.

Her eyes flew open, darting around and filling in the details of the mental picture she had created of her situation. Plain white medical room, one door, two guards and one doctor standing near the door. They were not wearing standard Hydra gear. Several visible and concealed weapons on the security personnel. No obvious exits other than the door; the air vent was too small for escape and the room had no windows. Her wrists were indeed handcuffed to metal rails along the side of the medical bed she lay on, but she was otherwise unrestrained.

Observation summary: she was in a medical room at an unknown location, with three potential threats and one means of escape. She did not know how she got here, but she knew this was not where she should have awoken.

She should have woken on a cot in her cell, after one to sixteen hours of unconsciousness following an experimentation session. She remembered the session, and remembered slipping into unconsciousness, as she always did at some point during experimentation.

Final conclusion: this was some sort of test.

This would be the first time Hydra tested her like this after experimentation, but it wouldn't be the most oddly timed test she'd ever faced. Hydra liked to keep things unpredictable, prevent her from ever letting her guard down. Not that she ever did. So, if this was a test, what was the goal? Probably escape. This appeared to be a simulated capture.

Next course of action: escape.

The entire Protocol, the process of gathering information and drawing conclusions, took about 18 seconds.

Too long. She was supposed to be able to do that in 10 seconds at most. Maybe she already failed the test. But the potential threats hadn't noticed, so maybe she could still pass.

Time to escape.

In one swift motion, she dislocated her thumbs, yanked her hands through the cuffs, popped her thumbs back into place, leapt off the bed, and started towards the threats. She knocked out the guard closest to her first; better to take out one of the greater threats while all three were still oblivious. Next, she took down the doctor, the lesser of the two remaining threats, so that she could focus all her energy on the one guard remaining.

He went down slower than the other two men, but he still went down. She snagged a taser off his belt, then turned towards the door. To her surprise, it opened as she approached.

And in came at least a dozen more guards.

Darn.

She glanced around, weighing her options, searching for a gap. Someone fired, and then she found her conscious thought slipping away to the realm of the unconscious once more, leaving her subconscious to whimper to itself.

 _Wrong._

* * *

 **A/N:** Here we are, chapter two, or at least the first half of it. I was planning on posting the whole thing, but I decided the two parts worked best as separate chapters. So, this chapter is a bit shorter than usual.

I am pleased to report that Infinity War actually works pretty well with my plans for this story, assuming I stick with Marvel canon, which is a huge relief considering Civil War and Homecoming forced me to re-think half my plot (and re-write my story). It's funny, every time I watch a Marvel movie I now think about Skyler and how she would fit into it. I'm not sure whether that fact means that she's a great character, or that I'm obsessed. [shrugs]

Thank you to amie94 and MarMarStar06 for reviewing!

Until next time,

Spotted


	4. and the Avengers Watch

From Nick Fury's office, via live feed and holoscreen, the Avengers watched as the target was sedated and removed from the medical bay. It hadn't taken her long to wake after being delivered into SHIELD custody; the team had only just entered Fury's office for debriefing when commotion on the screen captured their attention.

While most of the team had been startled when the fighting began onscreen, Natasha noticed the moment the girl awoke. The split-second falter in her breath gave away her consciousness, a detail insignificant to any ordinary observer but as obvious as neon to Natasha's trained eye. Clint noticed too; beside the Russian, he shifted his stance to better observe the live feed, waiting like her for the girl to make a move.

The spy-assassins started counting.

When the girl finally did move (18 seconds after consciousness. Not bad.) Natasha watched her form, her technique, her strikes, and her strategy. She was fast, smart, and clearly had gone through intensive training. There were a few things the ex-assasin would have done differently, but she had to give the kid credit for managing to get as far as she did.

After the tranquilizer hit its mark, and the SHIELD team moved in and took the girl to a holding cell, Natasha was left watching an empty room. The live feed blinked off, and the holoscreen disappeared as Fury pressed a button on his desk. Natasha frowned.

"Can you rewind the footage?"

She knew the answer to that, and really only asked out of politeness. Fury raised an eyebrow at her request, but turned the screen back on, switching to the recording of what just transpired. The rest of the team glanced at the Russian curiously, but weren't given a chance to voice their questions as the footage started playing. Watching it a second time, Natasha focused on the girl's expressions as she moved, on her body language, on the thoughts that could be read by watching her fight. There was something wrong about the way the girl behaved… Not in her skill, but in her mental state during the fight.

"Care to share what you see, Romanoff?" Fury asked, looping the footage so it played again.

"She doesn't know she's been captured," Natasha said, eyes tracking the movement onscreen, "look at the way she fights. She looks like she's going through a training exercise, not like she's battling for her freedom."

Steve hummed, leaning forward slightly to better analyze the footage as it played a third time. "You're right. Even the most seasoned soldiers act slightly different in training and in the real thing, and this kid can't be older than nineteen."

"So what does she think, that this is some kind of simulation or something? Some kind of test?" Bruce asked.

"Most likely," Natasha replied.

Silence fell upon the room as everyone considered this idea, and its possible implications.

"Well that's certainly something to think about," Fury said, breaking the spell, "but I have a lot to do today, so I'd like to get on with this debrief. We can discuss the prisoner's state of mind later." He paused, sweeping his one-eyed gaze over the assorted men and woman in front of him. "What do you have to report?"

Steve straightened slightly, drawing everyone's attention. "We found the base at the coordinates provided by SHIELD intelligence. We were met with some resistance in the form of mutated animals, and later Hydra personnel. We dealt with both in standard format, and continued exploration of the base. The top levels were largely abandoned, but further exploration revealed a more heavily utilized section of the lower levels. The primary focus of the base seems to be biological research and development. The target was found unconscious in a laboratory. We removed her from the base and brought her into SHIELD custody immediately. The base self-destructed while we were still on the premises."

"Is that your official report?"

"Yes sir."

"Good," Fury said, "Write it out, sign it, and put it on my desk by Friday with one of those sturdy paperclips. Now, what absurdity actually went down, and what the heck was Hydra doing with that facility?"

"They were working on cross-species genetics," Tony said. All eyes turned to him as he flicked a Stark phone and threw a hologram into the air. On it were short clips and images of the various mutant beasts the Avengers had met during the battle, along with basic formulas and diagrams he had swiped from Hydra's computers. It wasn't even close to all the information or detail he had, but Tony liked to keep the best for himself. It wasn't like anyone else in the room could understand it anyway. Except Bruce, of course, but Tony and his Science Bro could dig through the good stuff later.

Fury glanced over the information. "And what do you suspect Hydra's goal is in experimenting with cross-species genetics?"

"It's obvious. Make more super-soldiers, same thing everyone's been trying to do ever since Cap here turned out alright. That's old news. What I'm more interested in is who this kid actually is, and why she's so important to SHIELD. Those little manilla folders you gave us were _stupendously_ lacking in information."

Fury stood, coat edges swishing around him as he moved across the room. With the pushing of a few buttons he pulled up a large holoscreen, and on it a collection of brief records and blurry photos. "The media calls her Shadow Wolf," he began, as the Avengers shifted to get a better view, "she popped up on SHIELD radar two years ago after one of our agents got injured in crossfire while she was robbing a pizza parlor, of all places. After that, we did a little digging, and found that she has existed for three years, at least in the public eye, committing petty crimes that have grown increasingly dangerous to the public over time. At first, she stuck to little things, like robbing late-night convenience stores, and almost completely avoided the media. As of late her targets have included anything from no-name restaurants to jewelry shops to high-profile events, and though no one has been killed there have been quite a few people injured during her bolder robberies."

Steve sucked in a breath. "She's young. If she's nineteen now, that would make her sixteen when she started committing crimes."

"That's what we think too. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find anything on her background, so her true age is unknown."

"How'd you connect her to Hydra?"

The Director almost seemed to smirk. He pressed a few more buttons, pulling up a map of the continental USA. "Well, after she drew our attention, we started keeping tabs on all crimes associated with her, past and present. We put together a chart, to see if there was any kind of pattern. Usually, criminals have some kind of preference as to what they'll rob, or a radius they work within, but this kid seems willing to rob just about anything, anywhere." As he spoke, red dots started appearing on the map.

"It looks like she's choosing places at random," Bruce commented, eyes flicking back and forth as the dots popped into existence.

"That's what we though too," Fury agreed, watching as the red dots stopped. Hundreds peppered the holographic map, scattered all across the states. "Until we noticed this." He tapped another button, and a red line appeared, connecting all the dots. Several people gasped, blinking in surprise at what they saw.

The dots, when connected, formed the Hydra logo.

Clint smirked. "I noticed the dots were making a picture halfway through."

"Anyway," Fury continued, "Once SHIELD realized Shadow Wolf was connected to Hydra, we increased our efforts to track down Hydra bases and affiliates, with the added goal of bringing Shadow Wolf into custody. She's a public threat, and involved in Hydra to an unknown degree. One of the major questions right now is whether she was born a Mutant or made into one by Hydra. Is she what inspired their research, or is she a result of it? If it's the later, that means Hydra is a greater threat than we originally thought."

"So what happens now?" Steve asked.

"Now, we interrogate her and get the answers to our questions. Hopefully, she'll be able to give us information that will help us continue to hunt down Hydra."

"And if she doesn't cooperate?"

"She will. Medical already checked her over, she doesn't have one of those little pills the agents you used to deal with had, nor any other kill switch we can find. If she doesn't talk at first, we'll just keep sending people in until she does."

Still, Steve frowned. "That could take a while."

"Then It's a good thing I'm willing to wait."

* * *

 **A/N** : Hello hello my wonderful readers! Thank you for patiently waiting for this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. Chapter four is already 77% written, so it may possibly be done in time for a weekly update. What a thought!

Thank you to amie94 and MarMarStar06 for reviewing!


	5. A Spider, a Hawk, and a Wolf

Twenty-seven.

That's the number of agents that had tried to interrogate her over the past week. So far, exactly zero of them had gotten her to speak, a fact the girl was pretty proud of. She was succeeding in the test, but to be honest, this whole interrogation thing was getting old. The same questions were repeated over and over, the same tactics used in different ways. Threats, offers of refuge, reverse psychology, you name it, 'SHIELD' had tried it. But so had They, and she had learned from her past mistakes. The only thing 'SHIELD' had yet to do was torture her, and for this small mercy she was thankful. Surely the next agent would storm in with weapons ready, but for now she could rest without bruises marring her body, and relish in a lack of pain.

Of course, pain or no, she still had to deal with another round of interrogation. So here she was again, sitting in a metal chair, with her wrists cuffed to a metal table, surrounded by walls with metallic geometric patterns, waiting for agent number twenty-eight to walk through the door.

She didn't have to wait long; just ninety-two seconds after she was left in the room (yes, she counted, it's not like she had anything better to do) she heard the tell-tale whoosh of the door opening and closing. Two sets of footsteps met her ears, and the girl lifted her gaze from studying scratches on the table. Sure enough, two agents stood before her: a red-headed woman and a tall blonde man.

The girl wasn't sure whether to feel flattered or nervous that 'SHIELD' deemed it necessary to send the famous Black Widow and Hawkeye to interrogate her. She settled for both, and subtly flared her nostrils to take in their scents. The woman's was mingled with various metallic traces, indicating she typically wore many concealed weapons, and in fact had a couple of small ones hidden on her person right now. The man, on the other hand, smelled strongly of coffee and pizza, with a lingering scent of a border collie. Weird. The girl filed these scents away for closer inspection later.

"So," the red-head began, standing across from the prisoner while her partner took up a relaxed position in the corner of the room, "I hear you've been giving the others a bit of trouble."

No response. That was Rule #1 of Interrogation. Say nothing, do nothing, give nothing away.

"What's your name, kid?"

Silence.

"Alright, I'll start. I'm Natasha, and that's Clint."

The girl flicked her gaze from the woman to the man, and back again. They seemed pretty legit. Somehow, she couldn't see a Hydra agent going as far as eating pizza and petting a border collie just for a test. If the goal was to see how well she stood up to prolonged interrogation, such a detail would be rather insignificant, and if the goal was to see how she reacted to capture there were other details that were more important than scent. But if SHIELD had really captured her, what did that mean? How did they do it?

 _Maybe, if I play this right, I can get answers without giving anything away._

 _But that would break Rule #1._

 _Not break, really, more like bend. Rule #1 is kinda flexible anyway..._

"How do I know you're really who you say you are?" The girl asked.

Natasha shrugged. "You don't. It doesn't matter that much anyway."

Huh. Ok. That seemed like something someone like the Black Widow would say, not something a Hydra agent pretending to be the Black Widow would say. The girl tilted her head in a half nod, accepting the answer.

"Who do you say you are?" Natasha asked.

The girl shrugged. "Doesn't matter that much anyway."

"Maybe not, but it would be nice to have something to call you besides 'Detainee 41A.'"

The corner of the girl's lip ticked downwards, a slight crack in her otherwise flawless mask. SHIELD had given her a number. Logically, she knew they had to, they probably had tons of dangerous criminals and stuff to keep track of, but still.

 _/"You're a number now. Whatever name you think you had is irrelevant."/_

"You can call me Brook."

An alias was safe, right? That's what aliases were for. That's why They had given her an alias.

"Last name?"

"Smith."

The red-head raised an eyebrow. "Really? Brook Smith was the best you could come up with?"

Darn, the lady picked up on that lie right away. That would be counted as a failure on Brook's part, unless she could fix it and convince Natasha of the validity of the alias. She threw a quick glance at one of the security cameras (Hydra was watching, of course, they were always watching) before replying. "That's my name."

"Please, I know an alias when I hear one. What's your real name?"

Her frown deepened, but she quickly brought her lips back to a neutral line. "That's as real a name as you're gonna get."

The girl expected the Widow to push the issue, but to her surprise, the older woman just shrugged. "Fair enough. I did say it didn't matter much anyway."

Wait, so the agent was just gonna drop it and move on? What? Wasn't she supposed to get, like, real information?

 _/"They'll do whatever they can to get information out of you."/_

"Do you know how you got here, Brook?"

In a word, no. Brook had no clue how she had been captured, if that was truly what had happened. Even if this was a test, she didn't know where 'here' was exactly. But revealing as much would show weakness, something she couldn't afford. She couldn't just say yes though, as that could lead to more questions that she didn't know the answers to and may not be able to fake her way through. Best to fall back on Rule #1. Say nothing.

Natasha waited for a moment, as if to let Brook think through an answer, before taking the girl's silence as the truthful answer she hadn't given. "I'll take that as a no. A team of SHIELD agents stormed a Hydra base seven days ago on a tip from our intelligence. While some agents engaged Hydra defenses, others slipped into the compound. In the process of searching the base, one of the agents came across you in a laboratory. The agent made the decision to bring you back to SHIELD. As the team was exiting, the compound was destroyed in what is assumed to be a self-destruct initiated by Hydra."

"Was anyone killed?" The question slipped out before her mind could catch up with her mouth, and once it had Brook bit down on her tongue hard enough to draw blood. Idiot, that would be another major failure. It broke Rule #1, and not in an acceptable carefully planned out way. They would know the difference. Again, she snuck a half-second glance at one of the cameras. _I'm such an idiot_.

"The SHIELD team didn't sustain any casualties. However, there were most likely Hydra personnel still in the building when it exploded," Natasha said.

Brook studied the woman's face, trying to determine the truthfulness of her words. She could be lying. She was certainly in the position to do so, given that she held all the power in this situation. She could be telling a half-truth, a tale sprinkled with just enough facts to sound valid.

 _/"The world is filled with silver-tongues."/_

She could be telling the truth, but this Brook doubted. No one in this business told the full truth.

 _/"Trust no one."/_

The story sounded convincing enough, and chances were it was at the very least partially true. If any of it was true, what did that mean for her? If the compound was destroyed, and with it the scientists?

 _/"Cut off one head, two more will grow in its place."/_

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Hydra wasn't the compound, though that was all she had seen. Hydra was everywhere. It was always watching, always listening.

 _/"There is no leaving, no escaping, no fooling Hydra."/_

Though the woman watched her, waiting for a reaction, Brook said nothing. Perhaps SHIELD had captured her perhaps not, but even if they had Hydra would be back to claim what was there's. She glanced at the camera again, then looked down at the table. If she didn't want to make things worse for herself when They retrieved her, she'd better shut up, lie low, and stick to her training. She'd already failed enough today.

The silence stretched on. Brook could feel the woman's eyes on her, the man's too, and knew she was being analyzed. She ignored it. They weren't going to do anything to make her talk, and so she had nothing to fear from them except their perceptiveness. Eventually, they would leave, and until then she could continue counting the scratches on the table.

"Well," the red-head finally said, glancing at her watch, "that's about all the time we have for today."

She turned and strode towards the door, which opened as she approached and whooshed closed again behind Clint. Brook glanced up as they left, and just barely had time to see the woman nod to one of the guards before her view was blocked by the door.

* * *

"You were right," Clint said, breaking the purpose-driven silence once the room had been left behind and he and Natasha were well on their way to Fury's office.

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "About?"

"She didn't believe she'd really been captured. She looked kinda like one of the recruits when they're bored during a test."

"At first. Something about you changed her mind."

Clint smirked. "I have that effect on people."

Natasha snorted, but smiled with him. "Ok, hotshot. Did you notice anything else during that session, or did you just stroke your own ego?"

"She kept looking at the cameras. Every time she got nervous she glanced to the cameras as if someone would jump through and attack her."

Natasha hummed in agreement. "Whoever she thinks was watching, she was more worried about them than us."

"Yeah. Her mask kept cracking too, though she did a pretty good job of maintaining it for a kid. Better than a lot of SHIELD recruits I've seen."

"She'd clearly had a lot of training."

"Yeah, but there's something off about her. She wasn't like the other Hydra agents we've caught and questioned."

"We already knew that."

"Still, I think we should question her again, in a different setup. See how she reacts."

"Agreed."

By now, the two had reached the Director's office. Natasha raised a fist to knock, but the door swung open before her knuckles connected. Unfazed (by now, both Clint and Natasha were quite used to such things) the team entered, coming to stand just in front of Fury's desk.

"That was short," stated the man behind said desk.

"The detainee was shutting down. We decided it would be best to continue at another time."

"That's reasonable. So what did you gather from your short interrogation?"

"Well to start, there's her alias, Brook Smith. Whatever other name she once had she seems to believe is irrelevant. When she said 'that's as real a name as you're gonna get' she wasn't just being difficult, she believed it. She has some kind of identifying number, no doubt assigned to her by Hydra, but she doesn't like it. She didn't appreciate that SHIELD had done the same."

Fury nodded, taking in the information. "Barton?"

"The kid's had extensive training, both in combat and interrogation. A small scar on the back of her left hand shows that she's had training in the handling of knives, and judging by the age of the scar I think it's safe to assume she has mastered use of that particular weapon. She's not left handed though, she's right handed, which means she's trained in weapons with both hands and is probably competent with both. Her posture was outwardly relaxed, unassuming, but it held a slight tenseness that indicates she expected us to use physical violence as a means of getting her to talk. Our original theory that she thought this whole thing to be a test was correct, judging by her expression and posture at the start of the interrogation, but for some reason she seems to have changed her mind and begun to accept the fact that she has actually been captured by SHIELD."

"And yet she didn't seem concerned when Agent Romanoff informed her of the state of the base where she was found," Fury stated.

"No sir," the Russian replied, "she didn't show signs of being relieved or dismayed, she just seemed to accept the fact and move on. The only thing she was interested in, and the only time she spoke without being directly prompted, was to find out whether or not anyone was killed. Even then she seemed uncertain of how she should react to the information, as if she didn't actually mean to ask."

"Hm. So what you're telling me is we've got a Hydra agent, who may or may not be loyal to Hydra, who is highly trained but also clearly inexperienced in real life situations, and appears not to be all that bothered by much of anything."

"Yes sir."

"Well, it's not much, but it's a start. Any idea why she talked to you two but not to anyone else?"

"We aren't totally certain, but we think something about Barton made her reconsider her assumption that her capture was a test. To find out for sure she would have needed more information, and to get that she had to talk."

"Anything else?"

"We'd like to question her again," Clint said, "this time without cameras or audio. She seemed awfully worried about whoever she thought was watching through the cameras. She was more concerned with them than with us, whoever 'they' is. Without that perceived threat maybe she would open up more, or at least relax a bit and give us a better read."

"I gave her something to think on by telling her about how SHIELD found her," Natasha added, "I want to see what she does with that information, how it changes her approach to the situation she's in. She'll probably have questions, and if she asks them it will give us an opportunity to find out more about her."

Fury studied the pair, letting his one-eyed gaze shift from one to the other, considering their request. Finally, he sighed. "I assume you won't be wanting backup either."

"No sir. Crowds would likely put her more on edge."

"I don't like the idea of two of my agents locked in a room with a hostile with no backup and no monitor."

"We've handled worse."

"I know," Fury said, "which is why I'll let you do it. I'll send you the when and where later tonight. For now, be prepared to question her sometime tomorrow."

"Yes sir."

* * *

"JARVIS, bring up that information again."

"Right away, sir."

Tony reached his right hand over to a small bowl sitting on his work desk, grabbed a plump round blueberry, and popped it in his mouth. While he savored the sweet morsel, he leaned back and let his eyes roam over the information JARVIS had brought up on the screens. News articles, SHIELD files, police reports, whatever the AI could get his figurative hands on about the kid Steve had pulled out of the Hydra base.

To be honest, Tony had planned in sorting through this stuff ages ago, but aside from a quick glance at the stuff Fury had provided the billionaire just hadn't gotten around to it. There was other stuff to work on, like suit upgrades and avoiding those board meetings Pepper always tried to drag him to.

But hey, better late than never, right?

After skimming the typed documents, he pushed them aside, bringing a blurry image front and center. It was the best he could find of the kid, and it really wasn't a very good picture. He could barely tell it was the right kid.

"Run facial recognition. See if we can get a match."

"Running facial recognition now sir."

Tony snagged another blueberry, pulling up some other records while JARVIS did his thing.

"Sir, I found a couple of images-"

"Then bring them up. Really, I shouldn't have to tell you to do that."

A handful of pictures popped up, all blurry and taken from phones. It seemed the kid was good at avoiding security cameras.

"JARVIS, these are just more blurry pictures of her. I want to find out who she is. I need some ID."

"As I was trying to say sir, I couldn't find above a thirty seven percent match for any known living person."

"She can't have just appeared out of nowhere," Tony said, eating another blueberry. "When did she first show up? Two years ago?"

"Records indicate three years sir, but SHIELD did not take notice until two years ago."

"Start looking around five years ago to now. Factor age into your calculations and look for a match. Start with anyone who disappeared or was reported dead in the past five years."

"Running analysis now sir."

Tony watched as hundreds of images raced past the screen faster than a person could process them. He reached for another berry, only to find the dish empty. Scowling at it, he pushed the dish aside and pulled forward a bowl of black raspberries.

"Sir, I found three possible matches within the requested timeframe."

Three pictures loomed on the screen. Three smiling girls, all with brown eyes, one with dyed blonde hair, one with shoulder-length light brown hair, and one with slightly darker long brown hair.

"Talk to me."

"The first is a sixty-one percent match, Anna Elizabeth Jay. Naturally, her hair color matches that of the subject. In this image, she is fifteen years old. Her parents divorced when she was twelve. She lived with her mother, but stayed with her father every other weekend. She had two younger sisters, ages thirteen and ten. She attended high school at-"

"How did she die?"

"Both Miss Jay and her youngest sister perished in a house fire."

"Were the bodies recovered?"

"Yes sir."

"Then this's probably not our girl. Next."

The first image faded away, and the second was brought up front and center.

"A sixty-four percent match. Susan May Brown, age sixteen in this picture. No siblings, resided with her mother and father. She disappeared four years ago, the body was not recovered. Speculation indicates she drowned while on holiday with her friends at a beach."

Tony studied the picture a moment longer. "Could be. The death could've been faked, especially if Hydra was involved."

"Shall I move on to the next, sir?"

"Go ahead."

"A sixty-five percent match. Skyler Grace Sors, age twelve in this image. She-"

"Twelve?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Yes sir."

"Awfully young to be a Hydra agent."

"Shall I proceed sir?"

Tony squinted at the image, before nodding. "Yeah. We have to check every lead."

"As I was saying, she resided with her aunt and uncle, along with her older cousin-"

"What about parents?"

"They died in an automobile accident when Miss Sors was two years old."

"Keep going."

"Miss Sors and her family were killed while out of the country four years ago. Reports stated that they stumbled upon a small rebel group while journeying through the desert and were subsequently killed. The bodies of the aunt, uncle, and cousin were later recovered."

"But not the girl."

"No sir."

"Unclear circumstances surrounding death, no body recovered, no close family. Perfect recipe for a faked death." Tony reached forward, pulling the image of the Hydra kid to the center and positioning one of the two older pictures on either side of it. Then, he leaned back, chewing a raspberry, flicking his gaze back and forth between the three images. "I'd say they each have equal probability of being our kid. The Susan kid has an unimpressive story, but matches up with our kid's estimated age. Skyler has a more interesting story, but is awfully young. The images are pretty close, so no deciding factor there."

"Sir, if you could give me a better image or perhaps some more information-"

"That's why I built you. That's your job. So quit slacking," Tony stated, "and while you're at it, get me some more blueberries."

"I shall inform Miss Potts that we are out."

"Thanks Jav. I'm gonna see if I can corner Katniss and Widow and find out about the interrogation." Tony pushed back from his desk, closing the holotabs before standing up and heading towards the door. He brought the bowl of raspberries with him.

"I don't think that is a wise idea. Based on past encounters-"

"JARVIS, just tell me when they get here."

"Miss Romanoff and Mister Barton are in the lift now."

"What? They're already here? Why didn't you say something?"

"Well-"

"That was rhetorical. Don't answer. Keep digging for information about this mystery kid."

"Of course, sir."

Tony strolled out of his lab, popping raspberries into his mouth as he walked. He took the stairs down to the main living area, planning on cutting off the two spies when they exited the lift. Realizing that the lift was much faster than the stairs, Tony descended them three at a time, not caring that a raspberry or two bounced out of his dish and onto the floor during the quick descent. He had robots for a reason.

Sure enough, the elevator dinged just as Tony reached the foot of the stairs. The lift doors slid open, revealing Natasha and Clint, who were engaged in conversation. At least, they were until they spotted the billionaire standing in front of the elevator waiting for them. Clint groaned, wondering if he really needed a cup of coffee, while Natasha strode briskly past the man and into the kitchen, projecting a 'I don't want to talk to you' vibe.

Tony, being Tony, pushed the matter anyway. "So, what's the deal with the kid?"

Clint made his way to the kitchen as well, grabbing the coffee pot. He went to take a swig, but a cold look from Natasha made him pause. When the Look didn't lessen, the archer made an exaggerated pouting face and reached up to the cupboard for a mug.

"You know, we aren't supposed to discuss interrogations with people not involved in the case," Natasha said, calmly pouring her own cup once Clint poured his.

"Another rule that I have chosen to ignore. Really, when is Fury going to learn that I don't follow pointless rules?"

Natasha put the coffee pot back in its place, then moved around the counter to take a seat beside Clint. The pair of agents sipped their coffee in tandem, a sight that Tony found slightly unsettling.

"Besides, I was there when Capsicle pulled her out of that lab. That makes me qualified to know what her deal is," Tony pressed.

Natasha put her mug down, focusing her gaze on Tony. "We don't know what her deal is. She wouldn't give us anything more than an alias."

"You, the incredible Black Widow, master interrogator, couldn't get information out of some kid no more than nineteen years old?" Tony asked. He dramatically placed a hand on his chest, contorting his face into a look of utter shock that was only half exaggerated. "I'm shook! My faith in the world is destroyed!"

"She was too concerned with the cameras in the room to focus on the interrogation," Clint said, and Natasha took another sip of coffee.

"Why?"

"If we knew, do you think we would be talking to you right now?" Clint challenged. "Or would we have already dealt with the problem?"

Tony shrugged. "I never know with you."

Clint glared at the billionaire, muttering something into his mug.

"We're going to try again tomorrow, in a different environment," Natasha said.

"I wanna come."

Clint did a spit-take, spewing coffee all over the counter and choking simultaneously. "You _what?_ No. Not happening. You cannot interrogate a prisoner."

"Why not? I'm charming, handsome, famous, all of the above. I'm the perfect candidate." By this time, Tony had a glass of liquor in his hand, opting for that over coffee. He took a sip, as if that would emphasize his points and strengthen his argument.

Clint hadn't even mopped up his mess yet, choosing instead to stare at Tony as if the man had three heads. "You are the least qualified person I know to run an interrogation."

"I have an awesome suit. I'm a celebrity. I freaking saved New York from aliens. I think I'm qualified."

Clint opened his mouth to retort, but Natasha cut off whatever argument he intended to offer by shoving a roll of paper towels in his face. "As much as I hate to admit it, Stark might be useful."

"Really, Nat?" Clint was torn between looking wounded and looking insanely irritated. The compromise was slightly disturbing. "You're siding with him?"

"I'm not siding with anybody," the redhead stated, "but if this kid is used to working with intimidating people, it might be best to send in somebody who isn't intimidating."

Tony's triumphant look turned to one of offense. "I resent that."

Clint smirked, tearing a paper towel from the roll and wiping off the counter. He then proceeded to throw the dirty towel at Tony, who ducked with a noise of disgust.

Natasha rolled her eyes at the childish antics of the two 'men', tilting her head back to drain the last of her coffee. She placed the empty mug in the dishwasher as she made her way out of the kitchen, easily ducking around Clint's next paper towel attack. "If you need me, too bad," she called over her shoulder as she exited the room.

Clint threw another crumpled paper towel at the door for good measure.

* * *

 **A/N** : What is this? Did Spotted actually update on time for once? Indeed! And with the longest chapter yet! *pats self on the back*

So, here you have it, the interrogation. It went a bit differently than last time (for those of you who read the original version), but I rather like it. What about you, my dear readers? What do you think of our kiddo's interactions with the Avengers so far? Please, do let me know!

Until next time,

Spotted


	6. Enter Tony Stark

She really shouldn't have been surprised that SHIELD wanted to interrogate her again. She really, really shouldn't have, considering the fact that, as far as SHIELD could tell, they had finally gotten her to speak. They most likely thought that they were finally wearing her down, and with a little more effort the secrets of Hydra would be revealed to them.

They most likely thought this, and in this thinking they would be mostly mistaken. She didn't know much about Hydra, at least nothing of any value. She was intimately familiar with their experimentation process, with their methods of training, with their ruthlessness and determination, but only as far as her own case was concerned. How they trained her was unique to her, since she was a unique case. What could SHIELD really hope to learn from that information if she broke down enough to give it to them? Beyond this, she knew very little about Hydra itself. She wasn't privy to any intelligence information. She didn't know Hydra's goals in the broader scheme of the world, only knew that they worked very hard at turning her into what she now was. A tool, a weapon. Though, to accomplish what she wasn't really sure.

 _What do they want with me?_ That was a question that had circled through her mind over and over again, but now was not the time.

In short, SHIELD was about to be very disappointed.

She couldn't help but wonder what was taking Hydra so long to retrieve her. Why leave Their experiment in the hands of the enemy, where it could be messed up or destroyed? All of Their meticulous work could be undone in a matter of seconds with a single bullet. Or, if SHIELD was feeling more adventurous, they could use this golden opportunity to take the experiment apart and examine it, then create their own, stealing Hydra's innovation. Or just keep the experiment as their own, reprogram it to do their bidding instead of Hydra's. No matter what SHIELD chose, Hydra could only lose.

Unless, of course, Hydra was using this as an opportunity of Their own. Perhaps this wasn't a test staged by Hydra, but it could serve as useful training nonetheless. Free training too; none of Hydra's agents had to spend time playing dress-up if actual SHIELD agents were doing the dirty work, leaving Hydra with more resources for Their other projects.

 _It must have been someone higher up who made the call to leave me in SHIELD custody_ , Brook reasoned. The Doctor would never permit such an uncontrolled test. Too many variables, too many opportunities for catastrophic mistakes. Handler, on the other hand, was probably thrilled. These sorts of uncontrolled environments and high risk factors were his favorite type of training.

So then, if Hydra was leaving her here on purpose to see what she did, she would need to change her approach. The question was no longer 'what is Hydra testing' but 'what does Hydra want me to do.' Did They want her to escape as quickly as possible, or to linger and learn about SHIELD? If this was not a test, it must be a Mission. They'd never sent her on a Mission without instructions before, but she supposed there was always a first time for everything.

Alright, now that that was fairly sorted, back to the matter at hand: interrogation. This room was entirely different from the last one. The floor was bare concrete, and the walls were plain. There were no cameras or other monitoring devices anywhere in the room, so it was probably used for anything SHIELD wanted to keep off record. Adding to this the fact that SHIELD likely believed that all they had to do to get her to speak was up the pressure a bit gave Brook a pretty good idea of where this next interrogation was heading. There were no obvious torture devices in the room (actually, there wasn't anything in the room, besides two chairs and a table between them) but that never stopped a good agent. A good agent was resourceful and effective. A good agent-

 _Click_.

 _Whoosh_.

The door opened and in walked Tony Stark.

 _Wait, what?_

Brook blinked a few times to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. What in the world was _Tony Stark_ doing here?

"Sup kid." The man strolled over to the chair across from Brook, pulling it back from the table and seating himself. "So, I'm Tony Stark. You've probably heard of me. You know, genius, billionaire, that kind of thing."

Brook's eyebrows furrowed as she took in the sight of the man. What the heck was he doing here? Was this some kind of joke? She could not come up with a single reason why Tony Stark would be interrogating her, and until she could come up with something, her mind was basically stuck in a 'does not compute' sequence. So, she just stared at him, a slight frown curving her lips.

"This would be the part where you say your name, and then we shake hands and smile for the cameras like we're best buddies."

Cameras? There weren't any cameras. She'd checked. Did she miss one? She glanced around the room again, double checking just in case.

Tony noticed the subtle action. "That was an expression. There aren't any actual cameras in here."

Brook didn't answer, choosing instead to eye him suspiciously.

"What't the matter? Wolf got your tongue?" The man chuckled at his own joke.

The girl just frowned deeper, unamused. "What are you playing at?"

The Rules said she needed to stay quiet. But she was confused, and itching for answers, and how much worse could it possibly get?

"She speaks!" Tony exclaimed, waving a hand dramatically. "Though, I can't say I understand your question. Care to elaborate?"

Brook leaned back in her seat, looking the billionaire up and down, as if to confirm his existence, before meeting his gaze. "Black Widow I can believe. Hawkeye too. They're both SHIELD agents. The uniforms on the other agents are pretty convincing too. In fact, after Widow and Hawk came in, I had pretty much scrapped the idea that this was a test. I figured that I really had been taken prisoner by SHIELD. But you," Brook gestured vaguely to the rather confused Tony, "don't work for SHIELD. So what excuse do you have for being here? And last time I checked, you tend to hire people to do stuff for you. You don't seem the type to interrogate a prisoner personally. Especially one you have no apparent personal vendetta against. Plus, isn't it kinda against protocol to invite outsiders onto a case?" Brook kept her gaze locked on his, raising an eyebrow, as if daring the man to explain his presence.

Tony was actually silent for a full second. Ok, that was not where he was expecting this conversation to begin, but hey, at least she was actually talking to him. The man shrugged in response to her questions. "I'm bored, I'm curious, and I don't give a crap about protocol."

The teen gave an unconvinced _hrumph_ , frown still in place.

"So, you know why I'm here, wanna tell me why you're here?"

The girl looked at him like he was incredibly stupid. "Four guards and an agent said 'come with us' and marched me over here."

"Ok, sassy pants. Not what I meant. I was more going for a 'why do you work for Hydra' kind of thing."

The look she was giving him didn't change. She also didn't answer.

"I know most SHIELD agents are good at reading silence and body language and all that Sherlock Holmes stuff, but as you so kindly pointed out I'm not an agent, so if you could use your words, that would be stupendous."

Silence.

"If you care, there aren't any monitoring devices in here."

"You said that already." Ok, he definitely didn't work for Hydra. Hydra doesn't repeat itself. You listen closely the first time, and you remember.

"Alright then. Spill."

Silence again, much to Tony's annoyance. Boy, this kid was good at the quiet game. Tony let it linger for about 5 point three seconds before shifting in his seat, reaching into his jacket for something. "You know what your problem is?"

The girl didn't answer, but Tony also didn't miss the way her eyes had locked onto the hand in his coat and her shoulders stiffened.

Interesting.

"You, Balto," he continued, "are too tense. Here," Tony held out a small flask towards the girl.

Brook stared at the flask, then at Tony, her expression one of pure disbelief. "You're seriously offering _alcohol_ to a _sixteen year old?_ "

Tony snorted, retracting the flask. "Of course not. I'm more responsible than that. I was offering you an empty flask to trick you into telling me your age."

 _Oh crap._ She messed up again. How did she fall for that? _How did she fall for that?!_ How did such critical information slip past her lips so easily, so effortlessly, and she didn't even notice? She was better than that. They'd made her better than that. She was failing, again.

 _/"Stupid mutt."/_

"So then, Skyler…"

What? _What?_ How did he know that? Did she say something? Did she let something slip? Was she really that incompetent? She must be, if he was getting information so easily. Gosh, They were gonna be so mad when They retrieved her. She was talking too much, and breaking the Rules, and failing the Mission-

Right. Mission. Focus. Breathe.

She couldn't break down. Couldn't fall apart. This was a Mission, and Missions weren't just pass or fail like a test. On Missions, mistakes still counted, but if the Mission was still completed it would be counted as a success overall. Missions were for testing _and_ for learning. Missions could be salvaged.

 _Focus. Breathe._

Missions could be salvaged. She still had a chance.

"Where did you hear that name?" She asked, tone one of mild curiosity despite the panic churning below the surface.

"My AI."

"Where did it here that?"

"He, actually."

She paused. "What?"

"JARVIS is a he, not an it."

"You… gendered an AI?"

"Yep."

The teen pondered that for a moment, trying to understand this new bit of information. Giving a gender to an inanimate object seemed odd, but maybe that was just because Hydra only gendered people. Not objects, not experiments, not animals, just people. So then, if Stark was willing to give such a human trait to something that wasn't a person, he must have formed a strong emotional attachment with it. Good to know.

"Anyway, Skyler-"

"Brook."

" _Skyler_ ," Tony repeated, a bit more forcefully, "C'mon kid, I know that's your name, no need to be difficult. I know being a pain in the butt is like, a super-villain trademark, but you're pretty far from a super-villain and frankly they aren't the best role models. Anyway… You know what, I've forgotten. I forgot what I was gonna say. Congrats kid, you derailed my train of thought. Good job. Full marks. I'm sure your Hydra friends would be proud."

Skyler eyed the man warily. Was he angry? He didn't _sound_ particularly angry, but tone meant nothing. They were constantly angry, even when They sounded calm.

Tony stared back at her for a moment. "Ok, well, let's move on." He reached into his coat again and pulled a little disc from his pocket, which he tossed onto the center of the table. She flinched, her expression shifting for a half second before she replaced her mask. Once again, Tony chose to ignore her reaction, instead focusing on the small hologram that now lit up the space between them.

"I gotta say, you're a tough one to find stuff on. Not a huge internet presence before joining Hydra, and they were pretty good at erasing your record after. But no one is completely invisible, even if you're good at avoiding the paparazzi. So, we have-" he pulled up a school photo "-some elementary and middle school yearbook photos." He swiped through the images, and Skyler's eyes tracked with the movement. "We have a family photo in Disney. It's old, but I like the Mickey Mouse ears."

Skyler's heart rate picked up when she saw the photo. She'd forgotten about it honestly, she was a little kid when they went. But she hadn't seen her relatives since… since….

"And this one I particularly like, you and your cousin and a robot I assume you two made. It's simple, but for a couple of kids, it's…"

Tony's voice faded out as she stared at the photo. Stared at the face. _His_ face.

 _[Blood dripped from his temple, tracing a line across his cheek.]_

His smile. His eyes.

 _[Lifeless eyes stared back at her, his mouth still open with unfinished words.]_

The room was too hot. The air was too thick. She couldn't breathe, her chest tight. It was too hot and too bright and sand dug into her skin and her shoulder hurt and shecouldn'tbreatheandshecouldn'thearithurteverythinghurt _andbloodandeyesandpainandshecouldn'tbreath_

"Hey kid! _Kid!_ "

She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she jerked back, away from the touch, eyes snapping forward. Tony Stark was still sitting in front of her. The hologram was gone. She was still in a room. She was in a room, in a SHIELD compound, not out in the desert. Slowly, the sound of blood rushing in her ears faded, and her heart rate decreased, and her breathing evened out again. The throbbing in her shoulder remained as a ghostly reminder, and her hands trembled beneath the table, but outwardly she returned to a picture of calm.

Tony watched the kid return to reality, eyeing her with a hint of concern and a fair amount of guilt. Dang, he hadn't expected her to have a panic attack, poor kid. He knew what those were like, and to know he had just caused someone else to go through one wasn't a nice feeling. Once he was fairly certain she had calmed down, the billionaire stood - slowly, so as not to spook her - and replaced his chair. "Well, I think my time is up. See ya later, Balto. Try not to catch rabies or something."

His attempt at humor fell flat. She still seemed kinda out of it as he left, driving home the guilt, and leaving him wondering just what horrors this kid had seen.

* * *

"How'd it go?"

As soon as Tony exited the room, he was met with the expectant stares of both Romanoff and Barton. The pair had waited outside the cell, wanting to know exactly what Stark had learned the moment he stepped out. They had said they were going to do that, but honestly Tony had forgotten, and he didn't particularly feel like answering all their questions right now. He had thinking to do.

"Great," Tony replied with forced cheerfulness, pulling out his phone and texting someone while he walked, the two agents joining him.

"Did you learn anything?"

"Yep."

"And?"

Tony sighed. Fine, they weren't gonna leave him alone, might as well download all the info he had. "Kid's name is Skyler Grace Sors. Sixteen years old. Lived with her uncle, Daniel Case, her aunt, Merida Case, and her cousin, Ethan Case, after the death of her parents in a car crash when she was two. Captured by Hydra when she was twelve after an 'accident' in Africa which ended up with her aunt, uncle, and cousin getting killed. Hydra experimented on her, giving her whatever werewolf powers she's got now."

"She told you all that?" Natasha was, in all honesty, rather surprised that Tony had managed to get that much information out of the teen.

"Of course not," Tony replied, not glancing up from his phone, "I had JARVIS do some digging, then confirmed my findings by talking to the kid."

Natasha rolled her eyes. Beside her, Barton smirked.

"So you didn't actually interrogate her."

"I got answers didn't I?"

"Point taken."

Tony smirked smugly. "Don't worry guys. I'll only tease you about how I got more info than you for 70% of the normal teasing time span."

That earned another eye roll.

"Let's head back to Fury and let him know what we found out," Clint suggested.

"No can do.

"Why not?"

"I have stuff to do, places to be. I'm a busy guy, what with being famous and all."

Natasha narrowed her eyes at him. "You know a debrief is part of the standard interrogation protocol."

"Yeah, well, nothing I do is 'standard.' Extraordinary, remarkable, outstanding, yes. Standard, average, typical, nope. So imma just make my escape." By now, the trio had reached the elevator, and Tony pressed the 'up' button.

"Stark…"

"Places to be, Romanoff," Tony repeated, stepping into the elevator and turning to face them. "Things to do. Buh-bye."

The doors slid shut. Natasha glared at them for a second, muttering something in Russian, before turning away. "I guess we will have to play messenger.'

"Cheer up Nat," Clint said, "revenge is sweet and occasionally involves hair dye… Or Nair."

Natasha cracked a smile. "I look forward to seeing that."

* * *

When Stark left, the guards returned. Skyler stood from her seat and was shuffled out of the room, lead away and down the hall. She felt tired, drained after her little episode. Her hands were still shaking ever so slightly, and she clenched her fists even more tightly than normal in an attempt to hide this. She couldn't show weakness, especially not when she actually felt a bit weak.

As the group rounded a corner, Skyler stopped short. Oh crap. She didn't even notice the guards nearly crash into her, due to her focus being entirely on the horror that loomed just ahead.

A dreaded elevator.

Just _looking_ at it caused Skyler's already higher than normal heart rate to speed up.

"Keep going," muttered one of the guards, but Skyler ignored him.

By some miracle, the guards hadn't used an elevator to transfer Skyler from her cell to the interrogation room on the way here. Instead, they had taken her on a lengthy detour involving sets of stairs and long winding hallways in what she assumed was a tactic to confuse her so that she wouldn't be able to memorize the layout of the compound. They didn't know that she had been specifically trained to memorize routes she took, and therefore she could have easily retraced that path, but that was beside the point. Apparently, the agent in charge decided to take a more direct route this time. One that involved an elevator.

Skyler couldn't get in an elevator. She could already feel pressure building in her chest, and her hands began shaking even more. Sometimes she could handle elevators, but not today. Not when her anxiety levels were already so high.

"Hey, um," she called uncertainly to the agent that had been leading the brigade, "do you think we could take the stairs?"

The agent half turned, raising an eyebrow. "Why would we do that? The lift is in perfect working order."

"Lifts and I don't tend to get along," Skyler said. Hopefully, the unease she felt didn't come through in her voice.

For an impossibly long moment, the agent just stared at her, as if trying to see right through the teen's soul. Then, finally, "we take the lift."

Skyler's hopes dropped to her feet, replaced by an increasing sense of dread. The guard nudged her again with the butt of his gun, and she had no choice but to move forward as the group piled into the lift.

 _Ok. You can do this. Just a lift. This is SHIELD, not Hydra. You can do this. You can do this._

The doors closed. The lead agent spoke their destination, and the lift started moving downwards.

All the air suddenly disappeared from the elevator. Brook's chest tightened, as if a boa constrictor was squeezing her, wrapped around her lungs and not letting go. She gasped, trying to draw in air, but it seemed there wasn't any air to draw in. Her eyes widened, and she clutched at her heart with her cuffed hands, doubling over.

 _Escape. Danger. Flee._

Her pulse pounded in her ears at way too many beats per minute. She couldn't breathe, she needed to get out, needed to escape, needed to get out...

"Hey, hey kid, you ok?" A guard placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a shake.

 _Escape. Danger. Fight._

She swung at the guard, taking him out in one blow. She faintly registered the shouts of the other guards, and the cocking of guns, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was neutralizing the threats and getting out. The next guard went down. The handcuffs were annoying, but shifting to wolf form solved that problem, the metal circles sliding off her paws and clattering harmlessly to the floor. Another guard down. A gunshot sounded, and sudden pain blossomed in her leg.

 _Block it out. Fight._

The Wolf leapt at the guard who shot her, and within seconds he was laying unconscious beside his buddies. That left just one threat.

She turned to the agent, a snarl on her lips, ears pinned. The agent stood tall, eyes hard and gun pointed right at the Wolf.

"Stand down," the agent ordered.

Skyler heard it, but the order was drowned in her panic.

 _Escape. Fight. Escape._

She snarled again, and prepared to leap at the agent. But the agent was faster. A shot rang out, hitting the Wolf square in the forehead. She stumbled back, wobbled, and collapsed to the ground.

Luckily, the weapon was set to stun.

With the heat of the fight over, the agent lowered her gun and crouched to check the pulse of the… Well, girl now, she had been a wolf a second ago. She then moved on to check the pulses of her teammates, confirming all were still alive, before straightening with a sigh. Perhaps she should have heeded the girl's request to take the stairs, and thus avoided this whole fiasco, but how was she supposed to know that the kid would freak out in the elevator? And that one of the guards would be dumb enough to touch the kid in the middle of it? At least it didn't end as badly as it could have- everyone was alive, and really only sustained minimal injuries.

The lift doors opened, and in swarmed medical and guards. The unconscious men and the prisoner were taken away to be checked. After that, the kid would be returned to her cell. The agent watched, and sighed again. This would definitely result in paperwork.

* * *

Tony hadn't even left the compound before chaos found him. He was close, so close to the exit, and then a voice came over the intercom, stating some kind of code, and the next thing he knew a dozen agents were shoving past him, dashing down the hall.

Before he realized what he was doing, Tony's feet were carrying him back the way he had come, following the racing steps and loud shouts of the agents. For a second he worried someone might stop him, but it seemed everyone was far too preoccupied with whatever caused all this commotion to worry about lil' ole him.

He had a suspicious feeling he knew what - no, who - was to blame, and he found the thought gave him an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Tony turned the last corner, and immediately took a step backwards to avoid being run over by agents. As they ran by, the shouted words of 'hostile' and 'injuries' reached his ears, adding to the mounting feeling of dread the man was experiencing. He didn't linger on that curious thought (why, exactly, did he care?) but instead cautiously poked his head around the wall, attempting to see through the mess of agents and medical personnel crowding the hall around the entrance to the elevator. The doors were wide open, but the billionaire couldn't see in. He made an irritated noise in the back of his throat, and crinkled his nose in something akin to a childish pout.

Luckily, SHIELD agents work fast. Only minutes after they arrived the agents began moving back through the halls. Some disappeared in various directions, having no more use here (if they had a use in the first place; there seemed to be far more agents around than Tony estimated were necessary), but others strode purposefully down the main hall, muttering into comms or pushing gurneys. Tony, of course, glanced at each of these.

Four held SHIELD personnel, guards from the looks of their uniforms. The first was awake already, and though a bruise was blossoming on the side of his face he seemed to be in good condition. The others were worse off; hastily placed gauzes were slowly turning red, and if the pattern of the blood spots was anything to go by Tony suspected bite wounds were to blame.

 _What did you do?_

On the last gurney lay the kid. Tony's eyes were immediately drawn to the oozing bullet wound in her thigh, and he noticed with a spark of anger that no one had even placed a piece of gauze over it. Did they want her to get an infection (or worse, bleed out?) She also had a spattering of bruises forming, indicative of the fight she just experienced. Even in unconsciousness her whole body was tense, hands curled into fists despite being cuffed together, and brows furrowed.

Poor kid.

The SHIELD personnel disappeared through a door Tony didn't have clearance to open, but his snooping was far from done. He stared at the windowless portal for a moment, then abruptly turned and marched back the way he had come.

"JARVIS, hack SHIELD's camera feeds for the halls and elevator from the time I left the interrogation until now." The man took a small metal disc resembling a dime out of his pocket and flicked it upwards, where it stuck to the side of one of the more obvious cameras.

"On it, Sir."

* * *

 **A/N:** Woot woot, we have an update! An extra long chapter to make up for the extra long wait you have all so patiently endured. Thanks for having faith in me. :)

You'll be happy to know the next chapter is already half written, so no long wait this time!

See you soon,

Spotted


	7. Whether you like it or not

_Slam._

Nick Fury eyed the Starkpad now resting on his desk with mild distaste, then lifted his cold glare to the man who put it there. "Care to explain why you so rudely barged into my office, Stark?"

"Cut the crap Nick," Tony snarled. "I'm taking the kid."

Fury's eyebrows shot up. Of all the things the Director of SHIELD expected from Tony Stark, this was _not_ one of them. And while he was used to Stark's childish tendency to make demands instead of requests, this one was _way_ out of line. "Ex _cuse_ me?"

"Look at this." Tony jabbed a finger at the Starkpad, bringing up a video.

Fury glanced at the screen. On it was the security footage from yesterday, of the incident with the wolf-girl in the elevator. "I've seen the footage, Stark," he said, bringing his gaze back up to meet Tony's. "But I fail to see how this warrants you interrupting my paperwork."

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because the billionaire's nostrils flared angrily.

"Interrupting your _paperwork_? One of your agents _shot_ a _kid_ in SHIELD custody, and you don't see how that's a problem?"

"She was aggressive and violent. Agents are permitted to defend themselves."

"She was provoked! First one of your agents ignored her request to not take the elevator, resulting in a panic attack, which another of your agents stupidly interrupted by _touching_ a kid who's been trained by Hydra."

"My agents aren't in the business of taking requests from detainees," Fury said cooly. "That's exactly how you end up with dead agents and a lot more than just a bullet wound to the leg."

"Are they in the business of terrorizing detainees and letting them bleed out? Because I didn't see anyone take care of that bullet wound when all your pawns rushed to help their buddies."

"There's a lot you don't see, Stark, and it would do you good to remember you aren't an all knowing entity," Fury growled. "You have _no place_ barging in here and telling me how I should run this organization. That kid is SHIELD property until further notice, and-"

"No, see that's where you're wrong," Tony interrupted. "That kid is exactly that: a kid. A kid that's been abused, and tortured, and experimented on for the past _four years_. And I'm not gonna just sit by while SHIELD treats her like a thing, like- like some playing card you stole from the other guy to get a hand up in your grand spy game of poker. So maybe she could give you valuable information about Hydra, who the heck cares, that kid deserves to be treated like a person for once, and not locked up in a cell with everyone acting like she might explode and murder everyone or bring Hydra down on your heads. I'm taking the kid, whether you like it or not."

Nick gave Tony a minute to calm down from his loud, passionate outburst. When the younger man appeared to be sufficiently cooled off, the Director leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms as he regarded Stark.

"First of all," Fury said, his voice low and dangerous, "Never set foot in my office again unless you can control yourself, and _never_ threaten me. I can make even your death look like an accident, Stark, no matter how much you think your fame makes you invincible. Now," — he held up a hand when Tony looked like he was about to argue — "let's just say I did let you take the kid. Where would she live?"

"In the Tower, obviously."

"Obviously," the Director said dryly. "And what if the rest of the Tower residents don't agree to you bringing an enemy agent into their home?"

"Then they can leave. It's my tower."

"You're willing to sacrifice the team, the entire Avengers Initiative, for a kid you've met once in an interrogation room?"

"I'm not sacrificing anything. The Avengers isn't dependent on everyone living in my house. Heck, half the time people are out on missions anyway."

"That's not the point. That kid could very quickly become a wedge between you and the other Avengers, and damage the team dynamics."

"That won't happen."

"And if it does?"

"It won't."

Fury let that line of questioning drop. To be honest, the other Avengers would probably be more or less fine with the girl moving into the Tower. Wary, certainly, and they'd probably be pretty vocal about their concerns. But he had noticed the slightest difference in the way Romanoff and Barton spoke about this girl as opposed to how they normally spoke about those they interrogated. She had caught their attention. And if a detainee caught the attention of two of his top agents, and now the infamously uninvolved Stark, there had to be something special about her. "And if Hydra comes knocking at your door to reclaim their weapon, as she seems to believe they will?"

"My Tower has the best security systems in the world. Hydra isn't getting in."

The Director stared Tony in the eye, letting silence rule for long enough to make most people start to fidget. To his credit, the billionaire stared right back, expression as unrelenting and determined as Fury's was unreadable.

"Two days, Stark. You have two days to get your tower ready for a teenager to live in it."

Tony's face split into a relieved grin, which he quickly replaced with a smirk, the determination growing in his eyes. "I'll be ready by lunchtime tomorrow."

"I'll hold you to that. Now get out before I change my mind."

Grabbing the Starkpad, Tony turned and strode out of the room, already pulling out his phone to text Pepper and have her get the spare room ready.

Fury watched as the door thudded shut, and his office fell silent once more. That man was the biggest pain in the butt the Director had ever met, and there were many a day when he seriously wondered why he had ever decided to put Tony on the team. But it was days like these that assured him that he had made the right choice in choosing Stark for the Avenger's Initiative. Arrogant, stubborn, and too reckless for his own good Stark may be, but at his heart was the drive to do the right thing. To help other people. The man truly wanted to make the world a better place.

And that was something the world, especially this world of spies and villains, desperately needed.

* * *

Pepper was out grocery shopping when Tony texted her. She didn't check her phone right away, first selecting a carton of blueberries that were in good shape and adding them to her cart. Tony had gone to the fridge several times in the past couple of days, only to be very disappointed and a bit annoyed that there were no blueberries for him to snack on. When he complained about it, she had told him that _maybe_ he should consider putting blueberries on the shopping list _before_ they ran out. He grumbled, but stopped complaining after that.

Only once she was waiting in the checkout line did Pepper finally pull her phone out of her back pocket to check her texts. She had one new message, from Tony.

 ** _I need the spare room on the Avengers floor cleaned out by dinner time._**

That was it, no explanation. Knowing she would get no further details without pushing for them, and choosing for the moment to ignore the lack of a 'please' in that sentence, she texted back.

 ** _Why?_**

The little dots appeared.

 ** _I'm bringing home a guest._**

Pepper raised an eyebrow.

 ** _A guest who will be staying in the tower on the Avengers floor? We have plenty of working spare bedrooms._**

The dots appeared again.

 ** _This one is gonna be kinda permanent. I'm bringing a kid home._**

Pepper took a few moments to respond, moments her mind took to imagine exactly _why_ Tony was bringing home a kid. The first thought that popped into her mind was that perhaps one of Tony's one-nighters from before he became Iron Man had been fruitful, and now Tony had discovered he had a son or daughter and was bringing the mini-Stark home.

 ** _Who exactly are you bringing home?_**

The dots didn't appear right away, indicating that either Tony was distracted or he was thinking through his response.

 ** _Can't say too much now, easier to explain in person. It's Avengers business._**

Pepper didn't know whether to be relieved or concerned. She settled for both.

 ** _I expect a full explanation when you get home. I have to go, love you._**

The dots were quick to appear one more time.

 ** _I'll explain tonight. Love you too._**

Pepper pocketed her phone and paid the cashier, carrying the bags out of the store and puzzling over Tony's 'guest.' She considered asking Bruce when she got back to the tower, figuring he would be the least cryptic of the Avengers if she pressed for information, but ultimately decided against it. Tony said he would explain, so she would give him the chance to do so before snooping. She definitely planned on snooping though - Tony wasn't the only person who knew how to dig through files to find information.

* * *

That evening, Tony found Pepper working on clearing the spare apartment. Or rather, she was supervising while a hired crew cleared it out and cleaned everything. When Tony arrived, she sent the crews home.

"Alright," She said after Tony planted a kiss on her lips. "Explain why exactly I just spent my entire afternoon overlooking cleaning crews when there is paperwork to be done and board members to call."

Tony had the decency to look the slightest bit apologetic about her plight. "I'm bringing home a kid."

"Yes, you said that already, and you said you were going to _explain._ "

"Well, it's pretty simple, actually, if you think about it. We found this sixteen year old girl in a Hydra base on our last mission, she's been in SHIELD custody ever since, and now she's gonna live here."

Pepper frowned. "What's wrong with being in SHIELD custody?"

"Well, it's not exactly a grand hotel." He picked up a knickknack that was on the nearby coffee table, tilting it from side to side. "What even is this thing? Is it supposed to be a small elephant?"

Pepper frowned even deeper. "So, your master plan is to bring a stranger to live in the tower because you decided you didn't like SHIELD's living arrangements?" Her tone took on a bit of an edge as her annoyance grew. Rash decisions were something Tony was known for, but really? This was a bit much.

"Among other reasons, but yeah, pretty much." He held the knickknack up to the light, angling it so that the light reflected in its little glass eyes.

"This is a kid, Tony."

"I know."

"No, listen to me." She took the knickknack out of his hands, getting his attention. "This is a _kid_. A person."

"I know."

"This isn't a charity case you can just throw money at, this is a living, breathing person-"

"I know!"

Pepper paused. Tony took a breath.

"I know, ok? And this isn't a, a whim. I thought about it, a lot, and I wanna do this."

" _A lot_ , Tony? It's been what, a _day_ since you met the kid? One day is not 'a lot.' Most people spends months or _years_ thinking over the decision to have or adopt a kid."

"I'm not adopting her. I'm just bringing her to live in the tower."

"And by doing so, you are accepting responsibility for her."

"I mean, technically she's SHIELD's responsibility-"

"Nick faxed over the release forms for 'Detainee 475H,'" Pepper interrupted. He had also faxed over a shortened version of her file, which Pepper had read through, so she was aware of the general details surrounding the case, or at least those she had access to. And she was more than a little peeved that Tony hadn't talked to her before he decided to go and bring a Hydra kid into their house, and that she had learned the details through a fax message from Fury instead of out of Tony's mouth. "By bringing her into this house _you_ are taking responsibility for anything that happens while she's here. Yes, SHIELD is still attached to the case, they aren't just going to hand over one of their prisoners, but you will also be legally bound to the care and security of this kid. If anything happens, _you_ have to deal with it."

"Ok, then I'll deal with it. I'm Iron Man, I deal with things all the time. "

"People take work, Tony. You can't fix them like one of your suits or cars. This kid is mixed up with Hydra - she's gonna have issues."

"I know, Pep. We're gonna work through them. I know it's not gonna be easy."

Pepper exhaled slowly, her lips pressed in a thin line. Her eyes searched Tony's. But he didn't back down. His expression was almost pleading, though also determined, and Pepper had no doubt the he'd go through with this whether she liked it or not. She took another slow breath, willing herself to sound calmer.

"Why are you doing this?"

Tony broke eye contact, glancing off to the side for a moment. "Because…" he began, clearly trying to find a way articulate his thoughts. "Because she's been through a lot. Hydra killed her family and kidnapped her when she was only _twelve._ She sixteen now. So for the past _four years_ Hydra has been experimenting on her and training her to be another weapon for them. She's just a kid, Pep."

Watching his expression, Pepper caught a strand of Tony's unvoiced thoughts. He was remembering Afghanistan. Remembering what it was like to be kidnapped and tortured, to have terrorists controlling you without the strength or ability to fight back. He was only held by the Ten Rings for a few months, and she still saw the way it affected him everyday. She couldn't imagine the toll something like that would take on someone over the course of several years.

She was beginning to see why Tony wanted to help this kid.

"Alright," she said finally, and Tony's eyes snapped back to her. "Alright, you can bring the kid home. I'm still mad that you made this decision without talking to me - actually, I'm beyond mad, I'm furious - but I can see why you want to do this. And I'm still cautious about bringing someone associated with Hydra into this house, but I'm trusting that you are well aware of the risks and are doing everything in your power and beyond to keep all of us safe."

Tony's face split into a relieved grin. "Thanks, Pep. It's gonna be great." He leaned forward to kiss her again, and she returned the kiss.

"I don't know about _great_ , but hopefully it will be good."

"Mmm. Now I just have to convince the team."

Pepper pulled back, staring up at Tony in shock. "You haven't told them yet?!"

"Uh, nope."

"Tony!"

"They're gonna be fine. It's all fine."

"I'm not helping you."

"What? C'mon, Pep, please?"

"Nope, you're on your own with this one."

"Ugh. Fine."

* * *

 **A/N** : Hey hey, look at that, I met my weekly update goal! :)

In other news, I just wrote the VERY LAST chapter, which takes place after _Endgame_. That's still a long ways off though, and I have a lot of chapters to write in between. Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to have the last chapter written and not be able to post it? About as hard as it is not to spoil _Endgame_ for those who haven't seen it. So, very hard.

As always, please review! I love hearing from you all. :)

Until next time,

Spotted


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